With signs of a slowdown in foreign tourists’ spending at urban shopping centers in the country, officials and businesses in regional cities are aiming to draw greater interest in their untapped tourism resources as repeat visitors from abroad increase. Consumption by foreign tourists in ...

A small village in central Japan facing depopulation has renovated an empty home into a share house in a bid to attract young women who want to experience life in the countryside. The village of Shirakawa, Gifu Prefecture, hopes that through the experience, some ...

On July 19, the Yamagata Shinkansen debuted a luxury ashiya (foot bath) service. A ticket from Tokyo to Yamagata City, in Tohoku Prefecture, costs around ¥11,000, but 15 minutes in the foot bath car is extra. If Matsuo Basho, Japan’s most well-known poet, were ...

After five years running the Bank of Japan, Masaaki Shirakawa will get a cash bonus of as much as ¥29.6 million or as little as nothing, depending on how Policy Board members rate his tenure. The six members who remain when Shirakawa and his ...

With Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa announcing his plan to step down three weeks before this term ends, the battle between the ruling and opposition camps over nominating his successor will only intensify.